Wednesday 20 February 2013

ENGAGEMENT WITH NORTH KOREA

The Hankyoreh

EXPERT SAYS DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT MAY BE BEST WAY TO REACH NORTH KOREA

At a forum in Seoul, Robert Gallucci says the Koreas, China and the US should cooperate to find a solution to tensions

Kang Tae-ho

The Hankyoreh, February 20, 2013

A former US State Department aide who played a critical role in the Agreed Framework between the US and North Korea in 1994 said on Feb. 19 that diplomatic engagement on the North Korean issue may be the best way of reaching a resolution.

Robert Gallucci, current president of the MacArthur Foundation, discussed the limitations of Washington’s North Korea policy over the past two decades in a keynote speech at the 2013 Asan Nuclear Forum. The event was held in Seoul at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, organized by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, an organization headed by chairman Ham Jae-bong.

In his speech, Gallucci said US policies of engagement and isolation had both failed at reducing North Korea’s threat to the region. He went on to say that if North Korea was developing nuclear weapons for an armed effort to reunify the peninsula and attack the US, it might be possible to avoid a military clash, but it would be impossible to truly ease regional tensions.

At the same time, he expressed, “It’s my conclusion that the best approach to the current situation is the same one adopted 20 years, namely diplomatic engagement to determine whether Pyongyang is developing nuclear weapons to protect is own regime, verify the genuineness of its intentions, and look for the possibility of a political resolution to tensions.”

(...) [article here]

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